Archive for the ‘Pro-Life’ Category

Legislation has been filed in New York State to legalize physician assisted suicide, and a lawsuit has been filed seeking the same goal. The advocates of death are calling their effort “death with dignity”, and are appealing to a sense of compassion for those experiencing suffering as the end of life approaches. We cannot fall for this — it is wrong, it is dangerous, and it must be opposed with all our energy.

The very term “death with dignity”, used as a euphemism for suicide, is a terrible lie. It demeans those whose death from natural causes was not just dignified but even beautiful. My mother passed away a few years ago from cancer. It was a long illness, and she experienced real suffering, as did all of her loved ones. But we worked with her doctors and with hospice staff to alleviate her pain, and give her as much comfort and love as we could. She died at home after receiving the Anointing of the Sick, with her family around her. Her death was holy, and beautiful. It is an insult and a lie to imply that her death did not have dignity, because she did not kill herself.

The effort to legalize assisted suicide is based on an even deeper falsehood — trying to eliminate the crucial difference between allowing natural death to occur, and intentionally causing someone’s death. Death will come for us all, from one cause or another. And when the time comes, we are not morally obligated to undergo extraordinary or disproportionate forms of treatment — measures that will cause unnecessary suffering while yielding little benefit. But that is not the same as killing a patient or killing myself. It is accepting the inevitability of death by natural causes. Life is a great gift from God, and He will call me back to Him in His good time. I cannot become my own god and just throw this gift away.

The advocates for death must realize that they cannot face the truth about what they are doing, because they are hiding their bill behind the Orwellian term “aid in dying”. In fact, in the Assembly bill, they even try to deny that what they are legalizing is suicide or assisted suicide — as if such a transparently phony statement can conceal what is really going on.

Assisted suicide also seriously distort the nature of our health care system, which is already under so much pressure to treat patients as commodities and to look primarily to the bottom line and to convenience, rather than to care for the human person. The relationship between a doctor and a patient should be about healing, care, and trust. Legalizing assisted suicide fundamentally changes that sacred relationship — that’s why the American Medical Association opposes bills that will have doctors break their promise to “do no harm”.

This will also increase dangerous pressure on vulnerable patients to choose death — people who are chronically ill, handicapped, lonely, isolated, depressed. In fact, assisted suicide discriminates against those who are most in need of our help. This will become more and more of a problem as health care resources become more expensive and scarce. We’ve seen in other countries that once you introduce assisted suicide, the pressure to expand it to people who are not terminally ill, and for euthanasia — the direct killing of a patient, even without their explicit consent — is not far behind.

In discussing this issue, it is vital that we all recognize that when death approaches, there is always some suffering. Some deaths seem more tragic than others, and bear particular pain to the person and their loved ones. But we need to address that suffering, and not just give up on the patient. Modern medicine has the ability to relieve almost all cases of physical pain in a terminally ill patient. We need to work harder to address the other forms of suffering — the familial, psychological and spiritual pain that accompanies a person’s final illness and passing. We also need to think about preventing the pain and suffering that suicide will leave with families and loved ones, and the sense of guilt that often goes along with that.

That’s why more people need to know about institutions like Calvary Hospital, which provides wonderful support and care for those with terminal cancer. They allow people to exit this life with true dignity and compassion, and utterly reject the idea of giving people lethal overdoses of drugs. People also need to know more about the teachings of the Church on end-of-life issues, and what options are morally acceptable and available. To that end, the New York State Catholic Conference has created a wonderful website, “CatholicEndofLife.org”. This site deserves to be widely known and used by Catholics and others who want to know the truth, and not the lies of the assisted suicide promoters.

Our society spends lots of time and money trying to prevent suicide, particularly for teens and depressed people. It makes no sense — and it will hurt those efforts — to designate it as an acceptable option for elderly and sick people. Think of the awful message that sends — that for some people, we’re all better off if you kill yourself. Talk about creating a culture of death.

We’ve all driven over bridges with signs that say, “Life is Worth Living”. Well, life is always worth living, even when you are terminally ill. That’s the message we should be sending to those who are suffering, and that’s why we must resist any attempt to legalize assisted suicide.

(This is a repeat of a post from this same day the last six years. This post was written in memory of Jack Swan, a great warrior of faith and politics, who entered eternal life on February 2, 1998. God sent Jack into my life to teach me these lessons about politics, and I’m just a pygmy standing on the shoulders of a giant. As time goes by, I see more and more a need for us to recapture the politics of principle. Jack, please pray for me, that I get the lessons right.)

In the mind of most people, “politics” is the struggle of candidates, political parties, and their supporters to gain power and influence in the government. That is certainly true up to a point, and it makes for interesting entertainment.

I write a good deal about politics on this blog and elsewhere, and I’m frequently perceived as being “political” in that sense — of being”partisan”. That completely misses the point.

There is a deeper, more significant nature of politics. It is the way we order our society together, so that we can live according to our vocations and be happy, and ultimately attain eternal life. In this understanding of politics, the partisan theater is an important reality, but it is not the main focus. What really matters is principle.

Without principles, politics becomes mere pragmatism, where the question is whether something “works”, or, in the less elevated version of the game, what’s in it for me. Now, don’t get me wrong. Pragmatism is important — we want our government to be effective. But again, principle is more important.

I received much of my tutelage in the real world of politics from a man who devoted his life to being a practitioner of the politics of principle. I learned that it was fine to be keenly interested in the partisan scrum, but only to the extent that it advanced the principles we hold dear — defense of human life, protection of marriage, family and children, and religious liberty. The promotion of those principles is more important than party label, and the idea is to support — or oppose — politicians based on their fidelity to those principles, not based on what party label they happened to be wearing this week.

That’s how I try to practice politics, in my small and limited way. I have opinions and judgments about many pragmatic issues, and what kinds of national security, economic and other policies would “work” better than others. But none of those pragmatic issues matter at all, compared to the core principles.

Here’s how it works for me. If a politician doesn’t protect human life, I don’t care what his position is on other issues. If he can’t understand that human life is sacred and must be protected at all stages, I have no reason to trust his judgment about any other issue. And, very frankly, anyone who does not understand that basic principle is not, in my opinion, fit to hold public office.

The same holds for the other core issues. I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. If you don’t respect human life, don’t see the need to preserve marriage as one man and one woman, and won’t defend religious liberty, they you just have to look elsewhere to get your fifty percent plus one.

This means that I am perpetually dissatisfied with our political process and our politicians. But that’s fine with me. They are all temporary office holders anyway, here today and gone tomorrow, and their platforms are passing fancies that nobody will remember in a short time. The principles, however, remain perpetually valid.

Listen, Our Lord made a very simple request of us. He said, “Follow me”. He didn’t say, be a Republican or a Democrat, a Socialist or a Whig. He demands that I be his follower. So I need to look to the Lord for my principles, and in this age that means I have to listen to the Church. That’s what Our Lord wants me to do — after all, he said to his apostles “he who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Lk 10:16). We happen to have in our midst the successors of those apostles — the Holy Father, our bishops, and my bishop in particular. As a Catholic I must listen to them, and get my political principles from them, not from Fox News, CNN, talking heads of the left or the right, the editorial page of the Times, or either the Democratic or Republican Parties.

This, to me, is the way to live as a disciple of Christ in this crazy political process. I realize that this will be considered odd by many, and even dangerous by some.

But we hardly need more party loyalists at this, or any other, time. And we certainly need more practitioners of the politics of principle.

Today, the New York State Senate took action to fight the scourge of modern slavery, by unanimously passing the Trafficking Victims Protection and Justice Act.

This bill is an important way to strengthen the fight against human trafficking in our state. It is a terrible scandal and crime that thousands of people, particularly women and children, are suffering in our midst, having been brought here to serve as labor or sex slaves. This is largely driven by the evil sex industry, particularly prostitution and pornography.

The number of victims of trafficking is staggering. The UN estimates that there are over 1.5 million victims in the United States, Canada and Europe. The majority (55%) of forced labor victims are women and girls. And 98 percent of sex trafficking victims are female. Children make up 26 percent of all victims — over 5.5 million child victims around the world.

And these numbers really do nothing to communicate the raw human suffering that is involved in this evil exploitation of vulnerable people. It is difficult even to imagine the conditions under which sex slaves are forced to live and work. The descriptions that I have seen rival the horrors of Dante’s Inferno.

The Catholic Church around the world, and our own United States Bishops, have long been leaders in the battle against human trafficking. Our bishops have an energetic anti-trafficking campaign, and Pope Francis has repeatedly denounced it as a “crime against humanity”.

Although New York enacted laws against human trafficking in 2007, our state continues to be a magnet for the modern slave trade. By passing this bill, the State Senate has taken an important step forwards, and all our Senators are to be commended — particularly Sen. Andrew Lanza of Staten Island, who led the fight.

It is now imperative for the Assembly to take action. In that house, the human trafficking bill is being held hostage by pro-abortion advocates. The bill is part of the Governor’s “Women’s Equality Act”, which also has a provision that would expand abortion. Pro-abortion Assembly representatives, and the leadership, have so far refused to allow the trafficking bill to be considered on its own.

Shame on them. The victims of human trafficking are calling out for protection. They can’t wait for Albany politics. The time to end the modern slave trade is now.

(This is a repeat of a post from this same day the last five years. This post was written in memory of Jack Swan, a great warrior of faith and politics, who entered eternal life on February 2, 1998. God sent Jack into my life to teach me these lessons about politics, and I’m just a pygmy standing on the shoulders of a giant. As time goes by, I see more and more a need for us to recapture the politics of principle. Jack, please pray for me, that I get the lessons right.)

In the mind of most people, “politics” is the struggle of candidates, political parties, and their supporters to gain power and influence in the government. That is certainly true up to a point, and it makes for interesting entertainment.

I write a good deal about politics on this blog and elsewhere, and I’m frequently perceived as being “political” in that sense — of being”partisan”. That completely misses the point.

There is a deeper, more significant nature of politics. It is the way we order our society together, so that we can live according to our vocations and be happy, and ultimately attain eternal life. In this understanding of politics, the partisan theater is an important reality, but it is not the main focus. What really matters is principle.

Without principles, politics becomes mere pragmatism, where the question is whether something “works”, or, in the less elevated version of the game, what’s in it for me. Now, don’t get me wrong. Pragmatism is important — we want our government to be effective. But again, principle is more important.

I received much of my tutelage in the real world of politics from a man who devoted his life to being a practitioner of the politics of principle. I learned that it was fine to be keenly interested in the partisan scrum, but only to the extent that it advanced the principles we hold dear — defense of human life, protection of marriage, family and children, and religious liberty. The promotion of those principles is more important than party label, and the idea is to support — or oppose — politicians based on their fidelity to those principles, not based on what party label they happened to be wearing this week.

That’s how I try to practice politics, in my small and limited way. I have opinions and judgments about many pragmatic issues, and what kinds of national security, economic and other policies would “work” better than others. But none of those pragmatic issues matter at all, compared to the core principles.

Here’s how it works for me. If a politician doesn’t protect human life, I don’t care what his position is on other issues. If he can’t understand that human life is sacred and must be protected at all stages, I have no reason to trust his judgment about any other issue. And, very frankly, anyone who does not understand that basic principle is not, in my opinion, fit to hold public office.

The same holds for the other core issues. I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. If you don’t respect human life, don’t see the need to preserve marriage as one man and one woman, and won’t defend religious liberty, they you just have to look elsewhere to get your fifty percent plus one.

This means that I am perpetually dissatisfied with our political process and our politicians. But that’s fine with me. They are all temporary office holders anyway, here today and gone tomorrow, and their platforms are passing fancies that nobody will remember in a short time. The principles, however, remain perpetually valid.

Listen, Our Lord made a very simple request of us. He said, “Follow me”. He didn’t say, be a Republican or a Democrat, a Socialist or a Whig. He demands that I be his follower. So I need to look to the Lord for my principles, and in this age that means I have to listen to the Church. That’s what Our Lord wants me to do — after all, he said to his apostles “he who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Lk 10:16). We happen to have in our midst the successors of those apostles — the Holy Father, our bishops, and my bishop in particular. As a Catholic I must listen to them, and get my political principles from them, not from Fox News, CNN, talking heads of the left or the right, the editorial page of the Times, or either the Democratic or Republican Parties.

This, to me, is the way to live as a disciple of Christ in this crazy political process. I realize that this will be considered odd by many, and even dangerous by some.

But we hardly need more party loyalists at this, or any other, time. And we certainly need more practitioners of the politics of principle.

(I was invited this weekend to speak at all the Masses at St. Augustine’s Church in Ossining, one of our beautiful parishes, for Respect Life Month. Here is the text of my talk.)

When St. John the Baptist moved among the people, he preached to them about the approach of the Messiah. The people kept asking him the same question — “what shall we do?” And now, all of us who are concerned about respect for life ask that same question. “What shall we do?”

In 1985, in his encyclical letter, The Gospel of Life, Blessed Pope John Paul II addressed the threats that are so serious and widespread that they have created a virtual “culture of death”. We see this in violent crime, war, terrorism, torture, human trafficking, the drug trade, the arms trade, and abject poverty. But at this time, abortion and euthanasia must be the focus of our attention here in the United States. They involve unjust attacks on people when they are most vulnerable and defenseless, and they are tolerated and even approved by our society as “rights”.

But it’s important to remember that we don’t just say “no” to things, we say “yes” to becoming a people of life and for life, and to building a new culture of life.

To make this more concrete, I would like to offer a number of practical ideas.

Our first task is speaking the truth about the sacredness of every human life – about how God loves every single human person, and that every human life has dignity from the moment of conception. This is not just a principle of our faith — we rely on the basic scientific fact, available to everyone who has seen a sonogram or a video of “life in the womb”. Human life – the life of each one of us, the life of Jesus himself in his human nature – began at conception, and carries on until our natural death, and then on into eternal life. Every one of us, regardless of our age, disability or diminished “quality of life”, is always and forever a human person and must be treated with reverence. Our first task is to speak this truth about the gift of human life – always with love.

The second task is prayer. We must pray constantly, with determination, patience and trust. We thank God for the gift of life, and we ask Him to protect all vulnerable lives. We do this as individuals, and we also pray as a community. For example, praying the Rosary as a group, participating in the National Night of Prayer Vigil every December, or holding a Holy Hour on the Feast of the Incarnation of Christ (the Annunciation), or inviting people to spiritually adopt unborn children and pray for them during their nine months in the womb (kids especially love this). We also celebrate life when we have special Masses and blessings of engaged couples, expectant parents, or new families, or communal anointing of the elderly and ill. Life is a great gift! And we should celebrate that in our prayer.

The third task is to serve those in need, especially the most vulnerable. For example, we help the elderly by visiting and offering companionship, or we offer expectant mothers alternatives to abortion. There are many wonderful groups that do that, like Good Counsel Homes and the Sisters of Life. We can help them by taking up collections (for example, a “baby bottle” campaign to collect small change), or by running baby showers for the new moms, or by volunteering to help with simple tasks, like driving the moms to doctors’ appointments. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has been emphasizing our duty as Christians to reach out personally to the needy and those who seem lost in our society and without hope, and this is a beautiful way to promote and defend human life.

A particularly important way we serve others is through public policy advocacy. Last Spring, the New York State Legislature came very close to passing a bill that would have expanded abortion in our state. We already have 110,000 abortions a year. We don’t need any more abortion, we need more life! But this bill would have allowed even more abortion by allowing non-doctors to do abortions, and removing the few remaining regulations on late-term abortions. This bill was defeated because citizens raised their voices in opposition, by letter, call, email, participation in public witness and prayer rallies in Albany and locally. The bill was defeated, but it will come back, and we have to be ready.

I’d like to take a moment to say a special word about how we can serve women and men who have experienced an abortion. The Gospel of Life is a message of hope and mercy and healing. Those who have experienced an abortion should never give in to discouragement and despair. Our loving God is always ready to give forgiveness and peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Sisters of Life run regular retreats for those who have experienced abortion, and other groups like Lumina provide support for the healing process. Pope Francis has spoken movingly about the power of God’s mercy, and how we all can invite others to experience that mercy themselves. There is always hope and healing available.

The most important way we build the culture of life is within our own families, where we welcome and nurture new life, and where we support, comfort, and defend our elderly and disabled loved ones. Our families should be a school of life! So, married couples should never stop working on our marriages. Parents can never stop working on your relationship with your children, teach them how to live virtuous, chaste lives and about the value of every life. In the end, strong families and marriages are the foundation of the culture of life.

Each and every one of us has a role to play in this mission given to us in the Gospel of Life. So many people are doing so much already, and God bless you for that and thank you. But every one of us can do something. Please speak to members of your local pro-life committee, or check out the website of the Respect Life Office of the Archdiocese.

At the end of every Mass, we often hear the words, “Go, and announce the Gospel of the Lord”, or “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life”. These words don’t just mean that Mass is over – they also mean that we are being sent on a mission. We are called — each one of us — to go back out into our regular lives and proclaim the Gospel of Life.

By bearing witness to the dignity of every human person. By helping parents recognize that even though a pregnancy may be difficult or inconvenient, a child is always a blessing. By ensuring that every young woman understands that there are alternatives to abortion, and that she will be given the help and support she needs. By making certain that all of our elderly are protected against abandonment, and are always be loved and cared for.

And ultimately, our mission is to love, defend and serve all our brothers and sisters, from conception until natural death. By our words and our deeds we can build a new culture of life in our land. We ask the question, “What shall we do?” And when, one day, we are asked by Our Lord, “What did you do?”, we will be able to answer, we were a people of life and for life, and Our Lord will be pleased with that answer, He will thank us, He will be proud of us, and He will receive us into eternal life with Him.

On Wednesday evening, September 25, an amazing event was held on the campus of Columbia University, “The Manhattan Declaration Returns Home”.

The Manhattan Declaration is the ecumenical statement of conscience by Christian leaders, dedicating themselves to defending life, marriage, and religious liberty. It was signed in 2009 by numerous leading figures of every Christian denomination and church. The Declaration has since been signed by over 550,000 other people, who have committed themselves to its core principles. It is a vitally important rallying point for people of faith who are engaged in the struggle to defend and restore a true civilization of life and love in our nation. If you haven’t signed it yet, I strongly encourage you to sign it right away.

This event at Columbia was co-sponsored by the Archdiocese, Alliance Defending Freedom (who have been heroic leaders in their defense of the Declaration’s core principles), the New York State Knights of Columbus, and DeSales Media from our neighboring Diocese of Brooklyn (who livestreamed the event over the internet). The event was a landmark, because it represented not only a return of the Declaration to the borough where it was signed, but because of the power of the presentations and the uplifting spirit that they gave the audience.

The speakers were a powerhouse lineup of experts and activists: Eric Teetsel (the director of the Manhattan Declaration); Alan Sears (head of the Alliance Defending Freedom); Ryan Anderson (The Heritage Foundation, and co-author of the seminal book, What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense), Sherif Girgis (Ph.D. Candidate at Princeton University, J.D. Candidate at Yale University, and co-author of What is Marriage?); Marjorie Dannenfelser (Susan B. Anthony List), Eric Metaxas (Bestselling Author and Radio Commentator), and Jennifer Marshall (The Heritage Foundation). The evening kicked off with an ecumenical prayer service featuring Cardinal Dolan, who got the program started off on just the right note of prayer and dedication to God’s mission among us.

I served as the emcee of the event, and I made just one small point in my introduction. In spite of the conditions of our society, and the challenges we face, people of faith remain convinced that it is our duty, our privilege, and our honor to bring God’s light into the public square, into the marketplace of ideas. We believe that the eternal truths have something important to off our secularized world. And we are certain that God’s light and truth will enrich the lives of every single human person, and society as a whole.

“The Manhattan Declaration Returns Home” event was important on several levels. It offered people an outstanding panel of speakers who are actively working to defend life, marriage, and religious liberty. Their work and expertise offered a sobering view of where we are in America on these issues, but also hope and encouragement for the struggle ahead. The event was also significant because of where it took place — Columbia University, which was founded as a religious school but now is completely secularized and largely inhospitable to Christian values. Having this event, at this location, is a microcosm of the work people of faith are doing in the public square — bringing timeless principles of our faith to a society that has largely lost those values, and challenging them to recapture the truth and beauty that they are still yearning for in their hearts.

This struggle is difficult, and the challenges are many. The world is working very heard to discourage us, and to convince us that the battle is over, and lost. But we know better. As Ryan Anderson reminded us, and as the Manhattan Declaration proclaims, the battle is never lost as long as we have truth on our side. Truth always wins in the end, over any alluring lie.

(This is a repeat of a post from this same day the last four years. It was written in memory of Jack Swan, a great warrior of faith and politics, who entered eternal life on February 2, 1998. God sent Jack into my life to teach me these lessons about politics, and I’m just a pygmy standing on the shoulders of a giant. Jack, please pray for me, that I get the lessons right.)

In the mind of most people, “politics” is the struggle of candidates, political parties, and their supporters to gain power and influence in the government. That is certainly true up to a point, and it makes for interesting entertainment.

I write a good deal about politics on this blog and elsewhere, and I’m frequently perceived as being “political” in that sense — of being”partisan”. That completely misses the point.

There is a deeper, more significant nature of politics. It is the way we order our society together, so that we can live according to our vocations and be happy, and ultimately attain eternal life. In this understanding of politics, the partisan theater is an important reality, but it is not the main focus. What really matters is principle.

Without principles, politics becomes mere pragmatism, where the question is whether something “works”, or, in the less elevated version of the game, what’s in it for me. Now, don’t get me wrong. Pragmatism is important — we want our government to be effective. But again, principle is more important.

I received much of my tutelage in the real world of politics from a man who devoted his life to being a practitioner of the politics of principle. I learned that it was fine to be keenly interested in the partisan scrum, but only to the extent that it advanced the principles we hold dear — defense of human life, protection of marriage, family and children, and religious liberty. The promotion of those principles is more important than party label, and the idea is to support — or oppose — politicians based on their fidelity to those principles, not based on what party label they happened to be wearing this week.

That’s how I try to practice politics, in my small and limited way. I have opinions and judgments about many pragmatic issues, and what kinds of national security, economic and other policies would “work” better than others. But none of those pragmatic issues matter at all, compared to the core principles.

Here’s how it works for me. If a politician doesn’t protect human life, I don’t care what his position is on other issues. If he can’t understand that human life is sacred and must be protected at all stages, I have no reason to trust his judgment about any other issue. And, very frankly, anyone who does not understand that basic principle is not, in my opinion, fit to hold public office.

The same holds for the other core issues. I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. If you don’t respect human life, don’t see the need to preserve marriage as one man and one woman, and won’t defend religious liberty, they you just have to look elsewhere to get your fifty percent plus one.

This means that I am perpetually dissatisfied with our political process and our politicians. But that’s fine with me. They are all temporary office holders anyway, here today and gone tomorrow, and their platforms are passing fancies that nobody will remember in a short time. The principles, however, remain perpetually valid.

Listen, Our Lord made a very simple request of us. He said, “Follow me”. He didn’t say, be a Republican or a Democrat, a Socialist or a Whig. He demands that I be his follower. So I need to look to the Lord for my principles, and in this age that means I have to listen to the Church. That’s what Our Lord wants me to do — after all, he said to his apostles “he who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Lk 10:16). We happen to have in our midst the successors of those apostles — the Holy Father, our bishops, and my bishop in particular. As a Catholic I must listen to them, and get my political principles from them, not from Fox News, CNN, talking heads of the left or the right, the editorial page of the Times, or either the Democratic or Republican Parties.

This, to me, is the way to live as a disciple of Christ in this crazy political process. I realize that this will be considered odd by many, and even dangerous by some.

But we hardly need more party loyalists at this, or any other, time. And we certainly need more practitioners of the politics of principle.

The annual March for Life was held on Friday, in remembrance of the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. Several hundred thousand people joined in the largest annual civil rights demonstration in America, to witness to the cause of human life and its importance to our society.

After the March, I had the honor of participating in a panel discussion about the pro-life cause at the National Review Institute’s Future of Conservatism Summit. It was a very interesting conversation, covering topics such as health care, pregnancy resource centers, and the cultural and political trends in our nation. (It was broadcast live on CSPAN, and you can watch the video here).

The audience was very appreciative of the panel, and I got a good deal of positive feedback afterwards. That’s encouraging, because there has been a good bit of talk since the election about ejecting pro-lifers from the conservative movement — which I believe would be a disaster for American society.

But the positive reaction of the conservative audience also reinforced in my mind a sad realization: at this point in American history, it is inconceivable that I would be invited to have the same discussion at a conference of political liberals or progressives.

It has been made abundantly clear that pro-lifers are really not welcome any more in the liberal wing of politics or, indeed, in most of the Democratic Party. The platform of the national Democratic Party stated that the party opposed any restrictions on abortion; a prominent leader of the Party in New York has announced that one cannot be a Democrat without being “pro-choice”; and the President ran an aggressively and adamantly pro-abortion political campaign last year. Although there are some notable exceptions, the pro-life Democrat is becoming an endangered species.

This makes no sense to me. Life is not a partisan issue — it is a question of equal justice under the law and fundamental human rights. It is the ultimate issue of defending the little guy — as little a guy as you can get. And traditionally, liberalism/progressivism and the Democratic Party have styled themselves as the defenders of the little guys — workers, immigrants, ethnic minorities. They were the party of Al Smith and Sargent Shriver — two great Catholic gentlemen who were unabashed progressives and Democrats. Even as late as the 1970’s, prominent Democrats like Ted Kennedy and Jesse Jackson were openly pro-life.

I understand how and why this happened — it has a lot to do with the identification of abortion and sexual liberty as the centerpiece of modern feminism. But it has polarized our nation and politics, and it is a disaster for our society.

Last week, the President delivered his inaugural address. In that speech, he spoke about his and his party’s concern for defending human rights by alluding to Seneca Falls (the birthplace of women’s rights), Selma (a crucible for the civil rights movement) and Stonewall (the origin of the “gay rights” cause).

Sadly, he had no time to mention the human rights of the unborn. He could easily have done so, by a simple allusion to the Dred Scott decision, which excluded an entire class of human beings from the protection of the law.

Unfortunately, in our sad polarized politics, the liberal/progressive movement, much of the Democratic Party, and the current Administration believe, as did the misguided Supreme Court in Dred Scott, that unborn children have no rights that are bound to be respected by those lucky enough to have been born.

(Last night, I was given the “Our Lady of Guadalupe Family Life Award” at the annual dinner for the support of the Montfort Academy, the wonderful high school dedicated to classical Catholic education, in full fidelity to the Church. I’d like to share with you the text of my remarks at the award dinner.)

I would like to thank you for inviting me here to this great event, and for giving me such a splendid award. It is especially gratifying to receive an award like this from an institution that is doing so much to build and sustain a Culture of Life. I often think that awards like this reflect more the generosity of the giver, than the merits of the recipient. But I’m very grateful to you, and I’m also most grateful to God for the many opportunities he has given to me, to give witness to the Gospel of Life. All glory to God!

I think it is particularly appropriate that we’re speaking of the Gospel of Life, and our efforts to create a Culture of Life, here in the season of Advent, on this great feast day. We are preparing ourselves for the coming of the Kingdom of God, and the coming of our King — revolutionary events that have changed the world. We are living in anticipation of our salvation, which comes to us through hope (Rom. 8:24) and fills us with great joy.

Of course, when we look around our world, many people are wondering if there is any evidence for that hope, or indeed any hope at all for our world. There is reason for that concern — our society is in the grips of a culture of death, and is very deeply wounded.

We’re all aware of the threats at the beginning of life. Abortion on demand is the law of our land, we’ve seen the re-election of a president who is fully committed to an anti-life agenda, a Supreme Court decision upholding a health care law that institutionalizes abortion, and the spread of the contraceptive mentality that views children not as a gift, but as a threat to be suppressed.

At the end of life, we see continued threats, hidden behind jargon like “quality of life” and “medical futility” or a utilitarian calculation of the allocation of scarce resources.

The family and marriage, are under attack in our courts and legislatures, and we will once again be at the mercy of a Supreme Court decision on such a fundamental issue.

And, we are also aware of those among us who have been wounded — including millions of women and men who suffer in the aftermath of an abortion, as well as the victims of family breakdown.

Our society needs healing from these deep wounds. We are seeking some relief, but it’s very hard to find because we are all too often blinded by our wounds. I am reminded of the poignant World War One painting by John Singer Sargent, called “Gassed”, which shows a line of injured soldiers, blinded by a poison gas attack, stumbling ahead to find a medical station.

From all appearances, the state of our wounded world seems very bleak. And yet, and yet…

We know something that the world does not. We know a truth that the world does not recognize, or has forgotten — a truth about the human person, about human society, and about our relationship with God. We know that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God, and that every human person — and human society as a whole — has been sanctified and redeemed by Jesus. This vision is attractive and compelling to people — because it is true.

We understand also that there is a law higher than any human law, a law that demands our obedience because it was written by God into our very nature. This natural law offers us a vision of the common good and justice, that recognizes and defends human dignity, and allows for authentic human development.

In fact, we know that there’s a revolution going on. It’s a revolution of life and love. We know that there is a King whose reign is on the rise. We have a hope that the world can never thwart. And we know that this revolution — and this King — will bring peace and healing to our world.

If we were to rely only on the media, we would be hard pressed to see this. But we can see it, because of our unique perspective. As the Letter to the Hebrews puts it, we are “strangers and exiles” (Heb 11:16), “for here we have no lasting city” (Heb 13:14). Saint Augustine explained that we are citizens of the City of God, but we are still deeply engaged in the City of Man. We may feel that we are in a kind of Babylonian captivity, but we heed the words of God through the Prophet Jeremiah, “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer 29:7).

From this perspective, we can see the revolution of love in so many places:

At the March for Life, with thousands of young people who are unashamed to announce that they are pro-life and proud.

In the movement to embrace and promote chastity, where happy, joyful young people openly live lives of purity and beauty.

In the opinion polls, which show a genuine shift towards pro-life positions.

In legislatures around the nation, passing pro-life laws to protect women and children.

In the explosion of pro-life apostolic work, particularly the assistance given to women in crisis pregnancies, those with adverse pre-natal diagnosis, and those suffering in the aftermath of abortion.

In the growing numbers of pro-life lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, who are making their profession a vocation.

In the dedication to prayer as the heart and soul of all of our efforts.

In the new, openly pro-life religious communities (like the Sisters of Life), which are booming.

In the revitalization of our Church, particularly in the renewal of traditional liturgy and devotions, and a new commitment to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

And, of course, in the enterprise that you are all engaged in — the revival of authentic Catholic education, in all the richness of tradition, which answers the hunger for truth and fosters a love of fidelity.

In all these areas, and in many more, the Culture of Life is being built. We argue, we convince, we give witness, we serve, we share, we suffer with, and we pray. We work for the welfare of this great nation. And we point out to our world the path to the healing it so desperately needs. Of course, this is not easy — it is a struggle, it’s hard work.

This struggle is nothing new. Our revolution began in an ancient society immersed in death and sin, which was yearning for redemption and healing. It started in a small family home in Nazareth, where a young woman said “yes” to that strange and fearful message from an angel. It followed our great King as he healed and preached the truth, as he made his way to Calvary. It burst forth from the empty tomb and caught fire in the upper room. It spread through homes and families across the world, inspiring ordinary people who have struggled with all the difficulties and trials of their own times. It strode bravely into the arena where it shed blood and inspired poetry.

Our revolution has always been opposed by the forces of the world. But through it all, it has brought healing and peace to the suffering of every nation and has boldly held aloft the standard of our King.

That standard has now been passed to us. We may be strangers and exiles in this land, but the battle has been joined — in our families, in our marriages, in our parishes, in our schools, in our communities, in our voting booths, in our legislatures, in our courts. In our hearts.

Advent is here. Our King is at hand. Where else would we rather be, except in this struggle, in this time, at the side of our King, at the side of our Queen?

After the election, we have seen much discussion about why the Republican Party lost the Presidential election and failed to pick up some initially-promising Senate seats. One of the proposals that we hear often is that the GOP should jettison “social conservatives”, or at least declare a “truce” on “social issues” like abortion and the re-definition of marriage.

Far be it from me to give advice to the sage experts who have piloted the GOP to such electoral triumphs. Nor is it my business to get involved in political strategy for a party that I am not even a member of.

The reason I am interested in this question is that we are starting to hear a similar idea from pro-lifers — a sense that the political mission of our movement has either failed, or reached a final impasse, and that we need to re-direct our energies away from the political and public policy arenas, and focus instead on a more cultural approach to defending and promoting life.

I think this is a fundamental mis-diagnosis of the current state of things in our nation, and it falsely sets up an unnecessary either/or, zero-sum choice.

The current state of the pro-life movement’s political and public policy status depends on where you are standing. Obviously, things may seem quite bleak in a place like New York City, which is essentially a one-party state dominated by a Democratic party that is almost completely dedicated to hard-line pro-abortion policies. But that view can be deceptive. In other areas of New York State, there is a functioning GOP that is at least theoretically supportive of pro-life policies, and there are still some staunch pro-life Democrats around. The picture here in New York is quite daunting, there’s no doubt about it — but it’s certainly not time to throw in the towel.

Of course, New York is not all of America (it’s not even part of the real world, but that’s another issue). If you were standing in Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, Florida, South Carolina, or many other states, the picture would be much more encouraging. Many public officials and candidates in those states proudly proclaim their pro-life views, and they have passed common-sense pro-life laws, like parental notification, informed consent, and abortion clinic regulations. In fact, the public policy and political successes of our movement on the state level have proven to be a consternation to the pro-abortion forces, who continually complain about how many laws we have been able to pass.

At a time when our movement is making progress on the state and local level, it’s no time to declare defeat — or a “truce”.

But it’s more than a mere question of how many bills are passed, or how many candidates are willing to say they’re “pro-life”. We’re engaged in a battle over our culture, which means that we’re striving to convert the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters. Our goal is not just to make abortion illegal, but to make it unthinkable.

In this kind of struggle, it would be folly to abandon an entire field of the contest. The real question isn’t “politics or culture”, as if we can only work on one thing at a time. Our challenge is to get better at transforming both.

We absolutely need to ramp up our efforts to provide assistance to expectant mothers and fathers in crisis — that’s ground zero in the struggle to eliminate abortion. We definitely need to offer more resources for those who are suffering the aftermath of abortion. We have to reverse the anti-life, anti-chastity messages of our media, which create a climate of sexual adventurism and a contraceptive mentality. All these are legitimate areas for the pro-life movement to improve and enhance our work.

But law and politics are part of culture too. They affect public opinion and shape private actions. There is a growing body of opinion, especially among young people, that our nation has gone too far on abortion — that it’s a disgrace that 41% of New York City pregnancies end in abortion (the numbers are even worse in the African-American community), that horrifically unsafe abortion clinics are allowed to maim and kill women with impunity, that parents are excluded from their children’s key decisions about abortion and contraception, that handicapped children are routinely aborted, and that women are not being presented with all the choices available to them.

Fewer and fewer people are satisfied with our country having the most liberal abortion laws in the world, and with a political, media and cultural “elite” who are so degraded that they think this is a good thing.

There is a quiet cultural and political revolution on the way. Our young brethren will lead it. This is no time to end the struggle over abortion in the public square.